Left Behind
by Mazamba
Summary: Left alone for over a century, the Pretenders rise upon hearing word of the Fallen's return.


**Preview**

"All right kiddos, gather round. And for God's sake, please don't break any multi-million dollar vases this time."

As Mr. Monroe gave the small speech that the girl had gotten tired of in the twenty years she had overseen his tour, the child couldn't help but wonder what "Time" he was referring to as she watched the children arrive from the top of the stairs. Perhaps he thought it was funny to mention the fictional destruction of a Ming vase, although the red-head couldn't see how the desecration of a priceless piece of archeology would be humorous.

The tour was taking place in the Sumdac Museum of Natural History. The girl had called the tower-like building home for the last few years.

She'd taken care of the building diligently, while evading the watchful eye of the guards. The development of later surveillance technology had not provided much of a challenge for the girl, who was used to far more advanced encryption methods than a twelve character password.

The building itself was taller than most of its time. At twelve stories, it was likely the highest structure in the small town. The building had a large central cupola, around which the rest of the building was centered. Several of the displays surrounded the central structured, not far from the spiral staircase that made up most of the tower. The replicas of the skeletal remains of several extinct, flight-able animals crowded the center as they hung from the cupola.

Noticing that the children were headed her way, the Hindu girl dove for cover behind the leg of a woolly mammoth. She could never get tired of sneaking around; it had gotten to be her sole remaining pleasure since her companion had disappeared. Ducking behind a saber-tooth cat, she proceeded to follow the ten-to-thirteen-year-old children closely.

"Now then, who can tell me what this is?" asked the fifty-year-old teacher.

"A saber tooth tiger!" yelled out a kid near the front.

"Close!" said Mr. Monroe, "that is actually a misnomer. They're actually called saber-tooth cats, since they have no real relation to tigers other than being large felines. Now then, who can tell me what they ate?"

"People!" shouted a blonde boy of English decent.

"Deer!" proposed a girl of African descent.

"Manu-, mamanu-, manananu! Oh, the big hairy elephant!" shouted a second boy, German from the looks of him.

"Girls!" a third boy with a red baseball cap and brown hair cried out.

"Yes, very good children. Though they didn't limit themselves to girls Charlie. They ate just about any meaty treat they could find. Now, they hunted by-,"

She'd heard enough to know that half the class would be sleep-walking by the end of the tour. The same thing had happened every year for the last twenty years. He started with the cats, and then started to go on about their habits until the class lost sight of the amazing remains of an extinct animal in front of them.

"_The real ones looked better," _thought the girl as she looked at the stuffed replica of a Tasmanian tiger.

Deciding that she had seen enough of the tour, the girl decided to head back home. Taking care to order the security cameras away from her, she ducked behind a woolly mammoth to reach the door of her home. She placed the palm on the cold metal grill and sent a silent command for it to open. The motor on the other side obeyed and silently lifted the grill. She crawled in before reaching an old elevator shaft. The shaft had been abandoned years ago when the elevator itself failed due to the relatively flimsy stone that made up the ceiling and crashed down, killing the passengers. A new elevator was built on the outside of the building later on, leaving the useless shaft abandoned. The incident had allowed her to move out of the damp basement and into a new home that allowed her access to the rest of the museum.

She took her place on her old bed, a once magnificent four-poster with yellow silk, now a half-rotten pile of rags. An inert orange crane and a blue bat sat next to two large machines in the far corner, one light blue and the other light yellow, waiting for their handlers to arrive. However, the girl barely had enough fuel to keep herself running, never mind her outrageous weapons.

She had a peaceful, if meager, life. But she was lonely, to say the least. Her lifelong companion had left two years ago when she sensed what appeared to be an energon signature not too far away. Knowing that the decay would commence soon if the precious lifeblood was not found, she took off and had yet to return.

"I shouldn't have let you go," muttered Sari Sumdac to herself as she held a monochromatic picture plate of her blonde friend, "where are you Alice?

* * *

><p>This is just the preview of a little something I'm working on. Updates will be slow due to school work, work, and the fact that I'm focusing more on TRANSFORMERS: Alliance. Regarding Family, a rewrite will be posted promptly.<p> 


End file.
